Friday, March 25, 2011

Roll On Friday reports that the Bar Council has started a new website to raise applications from ethnic minorities and women. See No Bar to the Bar. We can say it is a start but....

ROF reckons the Bar Council is being coy since it says nothing about the horrendous costs involved in becoming a barrister: over £70,000 of debt. And there aren't many pupillage (apprenticeship) places available.

No Bar to the Bar is also coy about what it's doing. There is no explicit reference to diversity or discrimination of any type. It's done by inference and a knowing kind of maty-ness. Although we see pictures of Asians and Blacks and women, there is no mention of sexual orientation or transgender issues. There are occasional references to "atypical background".

Really, the Bar could do better. It's done enough research on these matters to know that it is better to be explicit than shyly hoping no one will notice.